COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
NOVEMBER 2019 • 13
WELL PRESERVED
Imagine the tree from which it
came. Perhaps more amazing, the
men did the work with only three
hands; Merila lost the digits to
one of his hands in a childhood
accident.
The design of the building and
its remote setting were said to
reflect Kaleva: a Finnish epic that
inspired an aesthetic and polit-
ical movement. The Lindgrens
offered their cabin as a gathering
place where Finnish socialists
picnicked, sang folk songs and
recited poetry.
Move to safety
The Lindgrens moved to Asto-
ria just a few years after the cab-
in’s construction, leaving it to the
elements. By 1968, vandals were
breaking into and threatening the
structure. The Clatsop County
Board of Forestry struck a deal
with the county to relocate the
cabin to Cullaby Lake. County
Commissioner, Hiram Johnson,
led the charge with the guidance
of Charles Davis, a professor of
architecture from Portland State
University.
The building was carefully
dismantled, transported 40 miles,
then reassembled by members of
the Finnish Brotherhood. Today,
it is operated and maintained
by the Columbia-Pacific Chap-
ter of the Finlandia Foundation.
The cabin is open for tours in the
summer.
PHOTOS BY JOHN GOODENBERGER
The kitchen and living space retain original character.
nately, the mice chew on the
wood and the bats leave drop-
pings which may harm the build-
ing. Filling voids with non-per-
manent, non-chewable material
is one way to keep the mice out.
Spreading pouches filled with
mint and lavender is an eco-
friendly way to evict the bats.
A gentle approach
As Rogers guided his stu-
dents through a forensic study,
he reviewed the tenants of his-
toric preservation: identify the
building’s degradation, retain as
much of its material as possible,
and create a plan to preserve it
through maintenance.
Rogers works frequently with
forest service and state park
properties--neither of which have
large budgets to protect their his-
toric assets. Consequently, he has
learned to take a light approach,
summarized in two words: slow
down. In doing so, he is able to
observe and understand not only
how the building is assembled,
but what characteristics define
and tell its story.
As such, he refrains from
removing alterations just for the
sake of creating a museum piece.
Importance of
preservation
A single plank spans nearly the entire height of the windows.
He looks at the alterations, ana-
lyzes why they were done in
the first place, and determines if
removing them would do more
harm than good. If they are fail-
ing, then he recommends their
removal. Otherwise, the alter-
ations may be considered a part
of the “morphology” of the
Lindgren added an artistic touch, extending the
dovetail joint near the eaves.
building.
Simple steps
Like any building in this
region, moisture is the cabin’s
greatest threat. However, there
are straightforward solutions to
extend the life of the building:
removing the “forest” from the
roof, lining the gutters, and gen-
tly scrubbing the entire build-
ing with D2 Biological Solution
to retard lichen and other plants
from taking root.
Also, since the building is
unoccupied by humans much
of the year, bats and mice set
up residency there. Unfortu-
The Lindgren cabin is a late
example of an axe-hewn struc-
ture. Thanks to forethought
by the county and others, the
unusual building remains. Its
axe marks tell of its construc-
tion method, the size of its planks
stir images of forests filled with
gigantic trees, and its social his-
tory evokes a culture inspired by
Kaleva mythology.
For more information about
renovating an old home or com-
mercial building, visit the Lower
Columbia Preservation Society
website at lcpsociety.org